This invention relates to the fields of location devices and systems, and distributed geocentric location based systems and their application to the collection of traffic related information and, more particularly to utilizing mobile and/or stationary probes for autonomous and controlled or dependent data collection of real-time traffic conditions.
If you average 8 hours of sleep each night, you spend a third of your life sleeping. When you couple that with working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, there goes about another 24 percent of your life. Thus, roughly speaking, you may be spending 57% of your life either sleeping or working. That leaves a mere 43% of your life for doing everything else. When you take into account the time you spend paying bills, mowing the lawn, taking out the garbage, cleaning your home, unloading the dishwasher and raking leaves, it makes you wonder just how much is left over for the important things. And although the realization of this small remainder of time that we each have does not justify road rage, the existence of road rage is certainly much more understandable.
For most people, the amount of time we spend stuck in traffic is an ever increasing plague. Assuming that the 43% of your life that is not spent sleeping or working is reduced by another 10% performing the above-listed tasks and other not so fun tasks, this leave you with 33% of your life—or an average of 7.92 hours per day. Ouch. All of the sudden, that one-hour one-way commute looks even less tolerable. No wonder the garbage never gets taken out.
But this dilemma is not a secret. The world is quite aware of not only the time consumed in traffic, but also the other ill affects, such as wasted fuel and pollution. That is why in most larger cities, you see helicopters buzzing overhead during rush hours and cameras lined up along the highways. Most cities even have individuals that have launched careers that focuses on delivering traffic reports over the radio and television air waves. However, here is the typical manner of how life unfolds. Moments after you pass the last exit that can provide you with an escape route, the “every six minute” traffic report blasts through the radio informing you that a tractor trailer has just plowed through 4 lanes of traffic and has spilled its load on the highway and that traffic is going to be a nightmare. Seconds later you see the brake lights illuminate the unending path that lies before you. You look in the rearview mirror to see all those fortunate souls that are peeling off onto the exit ramp as other cars pile in behind you, solidifying your fate. And the clock keeps ticking.
Technology advances have been incredibly useful in the navigational world. Many people have the luxury of colored screens and soft voices speaking to them as they travel, informing the driver of the next turn to take on their road trip. However, such technology does not inform the driver of the tractor trailer incident that has just occurred and then instruct the driver to take alternate routes.
Furthermore, the “eye in the sky” chopper pilots, working in cooperation with the fixed location cameras and “call in lay-traffic reporters” are able to gather some information regarding traffic problems, but with all the conglomeration of the available technology, we still find ourselves stuck in traffic, looking for an escape and wondering how much longer before I can be moving again. What is needed in the art is a technique to more reliably gather traffic related information, analyze the gathered information and deliver the results in a timely manner to drivers. Furthermore, what is needed in the art is a technique to identify “hot spots” and then focus on gathering a heightened amount of information pertaining to the characteristics of the host spot.